Fisherman releases great white

Ocean fly-fishing guide Conway Bowman has stared into the eyes of giant mako sharks as he unhooked a fly from their toothy jaws, but he felt compelled to do more after his client Jeff Patterson hooked a great white shark Friday off La Jolla.

“We took the fly out and both patted it on the head,” said Bowman, who owns Bowman Bluewater, a guide service that covers the ocean and local lakes. “This was a catch of a lifetime.”

Bowman, also the reservoir keeper at Lake Hodges, estimated the great white shark, a protected species, was 6 feet long and weighed about 150 pounds. It is believed to be the first great white shark hooked off the California coast with a fly rod and single action fly reel.

Patterson, director of sales for Abel Automatics in Camarillo, manufacturer of the reel, was testing company products on Bowman's boat. Patterson said he casted a foot-long artificial fly tied to imitate a bleeding bonito or mackerel to the shark as it made its initial run through the chum slick and at the boat.

“The grab was instantaneous, and the shark cooperated with a quick left turn to allow the proper hook set,” Patterson said.

Patterson said the great white's initial run was estimated at 275 yards. The fight lasted some 25 minutes.

“I thought it was a mako shark at first,” Bowman told listeners Sunday night on All Outdoors Radio. “But then I got a good look at it, and when we got it to the boat, I was sure. To see a great white shark that close is the pinnacle of my guiding career. To stare into its eyes and know that some day it could grow to 20 to 22 feet and weigh 1,800 to 2,000 pounds, it was almost surreal.”

Bowman knew something was up when a sea lion that had been in the chum slick began acting squirrelly and moved farther out.

“All of a sudden the sea lion split and sat out there 100 yards from the slick,” Bowman said. “That usually means a big mako is in the area. But all of a sudden, the great white shark rolled up. It was something, seeing a small great white like that. Usually, even the smaller ones are 10 to 12 feet, not 6 or 7 feet like this one.”

Bowman wondered if the juvenile great white had a mother nearby.

“If she would have shown, I would have started the motor and got out of there,” Bowman said.

In addition to catching and releasing the great white, Patterson caught and released eight blue sharks and three mako sharks over two days of fishing.